Old pair of dolls headed to Newport

TOM TITUS

The Newport Theater Arts Center will be touching virtually all bases

of theatrical entertainment next season, from Henrik Ibsen to Neil

Simon with a number of stops in between.

The 27th season for the theater in the converted church on a cliff

will touch on two local premieres and a pair of dolls -- one wildly

comic and one grimly serious. The bill of fare will run the gamut

from comedy to drama to musical entertainment.

Before the curtain goes up on the 2005-06 season at the center,

the theater will be back in action next week to present a junior

version of the musical “Schoolhouse Rock,” the stage version of the

Emmy Award-winning 1970s Saturday morning cartoon series that taught

history, grammar, math, science and politics through the medium of

song and dance.

Terri Miller Schmidt, who directed the recent production of

“Breath of Spring,” will stage “Schoolhouse Rock,” with performances

scheduled from Thursday through Aug. 14.

Officially launching the new season Sept. 9 will be a local

premiere by Ken Ludwig, author of “Lend Me a Tenor” and “Moon Over

Buffalo.” It’s “Twentieth Century,” a farcical comedy set aboard a

fast-moving train during the 1920s. Inter-compartmental meanderings

by outrageous theatrical characters are promised by director Beverly

Turner.

Another new show, at least for local audiences, will arrive Nov.

10 when “Smoke and Mirrors” by Will Osborne and Anthony Herrara takes

the center’s stage. Billed as “a riveting mystery that will keep you

guessing,” it’s set on an island off the Gulf Coast. Terri Miller

Schmidt returns to direct this whodunit.

The first of the two dolls arrives Jan. 27 with a revival of

Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House,” which picked up a Tony for ‘best revival in

1997. The play, centered on a young wife chafing under her husband’s

overbearing control, raised eyebrows for 19th century audiences.

David Colley is directing.

The other doll will be on view beginning March 31, when the Frank

Loesser musical “Guys and Dolls” gives center audiences a glimpse of

Damon Runyon’s Broadway under the direction of Michael Ross. If you

missed it at Golden West earlier this year, here’s your chance to sit

in on the oldest established floating craps game in New York.

Finally, one of Neil Simon’s earlier comedies, “The Sunshine

Boys,” will close out the 2005-06 season, opening June 2. Vaudeville

veterans Al Lewis and Willie Clark, who performed as a team for 43

years, but can’t stand each other now, are coaxed into recreating one

of their skits for a TV variety show. Gigi Fusco Meese is in the

director’s chair.

The Newport Theater Arts Center is located at 2501 Cliff Drive,

Newport Beach, and season tickets are on sale now. For more

information, call the box office at (949) 631-0288.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews

appear Fridays.